Just between you me and the lamp post...

It's pleasant enough being back here, but honestly, I'm already to go home again. Apparently this means I have defined home. I also am at a small crossroad regarding blogging and facebook. Feeling a hibernation coming on. A retreat or withdrawal.  Made it to Steve Roden's show at the Armory today. Very good. Dental appointment followed by studio visit with Mark Dutcher tomorrow. My hostess has suggested I go to the Korean Day Spa. Perhaps I will. I did yoga this evening and fell asleep during shavasana. I rough hung the show this morning. Last night I had sushi with Matt.

9/25/10 Addendum: Bummed to have postponed my studio visit with Mark due to the dental appointment. My face was so numb my friend said I looked like I had botox and Bell's palsy. I'm still hungover from the anesthesia. Lesson learned: Never, EVER, miss the 6-month check-up again.

Hope

"Too often in the past we have thought of the artist as an idler and dilettante and of the lover of arts as somehow sissy or effete. We have done both an injustice. The life of the artist is, in relation to his work, stern and lonely. He has labored hard, often among deprivation, to perfect his skill. He has turned aside from quick success in order to strip his vision of everything secondary or cheapening. His working life is marked by intense application and intense discipline. As for the lover of arts, it is he who, by subjecting himself to the sometimes disturbing experience of art, sustains the artist — and seeks only the reward that his life will, in consequence, be the more fully lived." —JFK, 1962

I had a bout of insecurity yesterday. Fear of the unknown and all that stuff. Matt had stopped by and I told him I felt like a dope because the only thing that I feel like I can do, and that gives me some sort of peace, is working in the studio, making paintings, and that even though sometimes painting was a struggle it was a good struggle, but that I was feeling like it wasn't enough. He mentioned this JFK quote and sent it to me later.

No rest for the wicked

I had a nice time at the party last night. The host has a lovely abstract art collection. Oh why yes, including one of mine, thanks for asking- and the company included a handful of other artist collector curator peoples. There was a guy who introduced himself and later appeared languid on the floor. I heard he falls asleep at parties. Some old habit from childhood. My kind of guy. I didn't get to chat with him though.

The joint was jumping with abstract painters. (There were at least four of us.) I covered up my affair with Representational Painting as best I could. I nodded and laughed in agreement with some of the things that stump abstract painters when filling out grant applications. "Who is your intended audience?" "Who is going to benefit from your project?" and of course the major one: "Describe your proposal." I forgot all the pithy answers, but I laughed a lot last night. Inside joke, I suppose, but it made me realize that I'm going to have a hard time carrying on behind Abstract Painting's back. Plus, I just kept starring at the abstract paintings hanging around. Hubba hubba. {sigh}

Tomorrow is the studio sale. Earlier this week, I handed someone a card I whipped up for the invite and they seemed honestly astounded at how professional it looked. I'm always a little taken aback in those situations. Maybe next time I'll use crayons and leave glue stains.

I'll be selling watercolors that have been hidden away in my flat files save one exhibition in Nashville. I was going to offer up more under-exhibited drawings, but next year I am in a 4-person show at the Brand Library and Art Center. It's a large space and I have decided to do a mini-retrospective of my works on paper installations. I woke up with that eureka! insight the other morning and feel quite good about knowing that.

I also made notecards of my studio flower photographs. They, too, look professional and are really quite lovely, actually.

Really.

Act II got lost.

First off, The folks behind Blogger are amazingly f'n dimwitted. The new updated post editor does not- get this, DOES NOT, have a spell checker! WTF? I mean, sure, I think we should spell things all proper and look words up in the dictionary. Builds character. But to NOT have a spellchecker in an UPDATED version is like mind-bogglingly mind-boggling. Okay. it's useless to rant about it. I went back to the old post editor.

Tracy took action and prompted everyone on The Fine Art Department website to update their info, upload new works, etc etc. Part of the etc etc was asking everyone for their facebook fanpage. Ugh. The dreaded fanpage. Sure, Fang can have his own fanpage cuz he's a dogstar, (The real deal, not Keanu Reeves' band.) but moi? I tried to have followers on this blog and after only 4 people were following me, I removed it. I am self-conscious, even in cyberspace.

So, in case you weren't listening on facebook and missed my opening this weekend, here's a decent pic of Mike Vegas and I in our space. We had never met before, so it was fun to meet someone new. That's Mike in front of his photograph. I will take liberty here and assume it's titled, Super. That's me in front of SOSSOL. I love that painting. It will find a good home one day.

The Burchfield Exhibit

Watercolors have to go into dark storage for a minimum of five years after being on exhibition. I knew they were kept in the dark and not exhibited much for obvious reasons having to do with light, but I did not know the minimum 5-year rule after being on exhibit.

The Burchfield exhibit is beautiful. It also made me sad. They are not happy-go-lucky paintings. They are beautiful, but not light. I attended the lunch talk on Wednesday. I don’t know exactly what it was that made me identify with a man who would be 116 years old if he were still alive today, but there I was, starring at the paintings like I knew some secret. I wasn’t looking so much at how they were painted, which as a painter, I’m wont to d0- I was in his studio or at the breakfast table or whatever, writing “hamburger” on a scrap piece of paper and doodling around it.

Christopher Knight reviewed the exhibit in the L.A. Times, calling it “an artist’s show.” Burchfield’s notes, sketches and journals are on display along with books, catalogs and some magazine profiles of him in his studio. I can’t remember the name of the magazine, but in one there was a rather mundane photograph of his brushes, describing what kind they were and how he used them. It identified them as 3/4 of their actual size. In another image, we learn how he stretched his watercolor paper. Half the exhibit feels like it’s a glimpse into the working process of the artist, and to quantify it as half is silly. The documents, writings and “doodles” room, which is like the brain of the entire exhibit and quite the opposite of "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain," infiltrates the remainder of the exhibit- the exception being the wallpaper room, which is beautifully compartmentalized and shows the work he produced during that period of his life. Maybe this is just my read, but the wallpaper room felt oppressing, intentionally so, like holding down a wallpaper design job and painting fine art was a burden. Working for the man sucks.

After the talk, I asked about the photograph of Burchfield in his pitch-black studio and was told that he was a bit of a loner, didn’t care for the city, didn’t socialize much and didn’t even go to his own opening at MoMA. I can’t remember how that explained his cave-like studio, but apparently it does. I later went to the hardware store and bought another clamp light for my studio. I love the picture of Burchfield in his studio, but I'm also craving light in mine right now.

I didn’t want to leave the gallery. I envied the guards. Sure it was a rainy day here in the city, but knowing the watercolors will hit a couple of venues and then go back into the dark made me want to stay and memorize the works. There is so much symmetry to the exhibition. Here's a clip by Robert Gober describing his curatorial decisions.


Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield
October 4 - January 3, 2010
Currently at the Hammer Museum in collaboration with the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo State College.

The Civilized Furniture

I couldn't help but notice none of the artists in Fig's book mentioned nary a word about blogging their guts out as part of their daily routine. (Big spike in hits coming up; everyone wants to know about "my routine".) I bet Anne Truitt would have mentioned it had time and space and technology aligned.

I think we all should take a moment to describe a typical day.

I loved the work table question. It made me think about how important some pieces of furniture are and my history with them. I'm a scavenger, so none of my furniture is custom-made, so to speak. I constructed a bench to hold my large paintings, but since I am not a carpenter/woodworker by any stretch of the imagination, I got too attached to it. It's the only example of my patience, precision and ability to make something normal, aesthetic and functional, so after a few years on studio duty, I gave it a nice mahogany stain to match a homeless desk I found and refinished, and brought it in the house to live amongst the civilized furniture.

I also need to mention how oddly weird and refreshing the photo of Charles Burchfield working in his studio is (see previous post) compared to all the white cube, lofted, sky-lit spaces we tend to associate with real artists. It's nice to remember that while ideal workspaces are great, they're not mandatory.

Reading room:

Charles Burchfield painting in his studio, Gardenville, New York, 1966. (William Doran/Hammer Museum).

Charles Burchfield opened at the Hammer this weekend and there's a lunch talk on Wednesday. I will be there. I am excited.

Christopher Knight wrote about the show in today's LA Times. Here's an excerpt from the review, which will segue nicely into my following paragraph.

An artist's show
"The rich and provocative show, which travels to Buffalo and New York next year, was expertly organized by artist Robert Gober, who worked with Hammer curator Cynthia Burlingham.

It feels very much like an artist's show, one that springs from an empathy for working studio process. Each room includes vitrines with fascinating adjunct material -- magazines, tools, sketches, correspondence, catalogs, etc. None is more poignant than the final display, featuring two precarious stacks of more than 60 manila folders carefully cataloging a selection of Burchfield's voluminous annotated journals.

We can't look inside them, sheltered beneath their plexiglass cover. But the display is an eloquent testament to the fact that, with an artist of Burchfield's deep and prodigious gifts, we will never get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, we have his paintings."

Thanks to Tracy's rec, I pounced on Inside the Painter's Studio, by artist, Joe Fig. I, too, have always loved looking at studios and reading about studio habits. For instance, it delighted me to know that Ross Bleckner's decision to have a separate work space forces him to interact with the city. At the very least he stops and grabs a coffee on the way from the apartment to the studio. I'm working on the hermit thing because really, I'm not as anti-social as I might sound. Not at all. I just love working in the studio.

With regard to my own studio, there's so much to write about in terms of process and where I'm at. I guess it's exciting but it feels like those episodes on Lost where they were flashing back and forth in time way too much and everyone was getting nosebleeds.

Well, since I discovered it's not rocket science to embed videos...

http://www.tanyadavis.ca/
http://www.youtube.com/user/andyradorfman

I first saw this posted on Carol's blog and had to repost it here. I've been really rethinking quite a few things lately. In a galaxy far away, I might not have appreciated the simplicity of this video, but today, I find it beautiful.

I'm still waiting to take that paid vacation...............

For someone who doesn't have a lot of **work** right now, I'm beat. Yes. IT is in the mail. This morning, Fang and I delivered it to our local post office. Then I vacuumed the car, picked up a tripod from storage, raked the yard, did laundry and thought, wow, I never really went on a vacation this week, did I? At which point I picked up the keys and drove to downtown Culver City and saw "District 9."

Tomorrow night is the night of 1000 openings. I'm committing to visiting Carol Es for her open studio and Nancy Baker at Jancar. If anything still happening on the westside after I get back, I'll try and hit that as well. What a liar. Two's about all I can handle, though I'll be in Chinatown, so I'm sure I'll see something else. I discovered Carol's blog back in 2004 or 05 and have secretly admired how hard she works. We have mutual friends in LA, but amazingly have never met. Then one day, after seeing her name pop up on FB for the umpteenth millionth time, I thought oh hell, I'll friend her and introduce myself even though she doesn't know me. Turns out she did know who I was and as luck would have it, she's having an open studio tomorrow night.

Other quick things before I fall asleep at the keyboard-The Beat and The Buzz: Inside the L.A. Artworld arrived in the mail yesterday. I ordered it a few weeks ago. It's the dope on the L.A. art world through interviews with about 25-30 various art world players her in L.A. I had no idea who was interviewed. I knew Tony Berlant was included because his name starts with "B" and because less than a month before I ordered the book, I was at his studio with the FOCA group. But, I didn't know John O'Brien was was one of the interviews and since John shows with Kristi and he curated me into an exhibit this summer and since I think he's a super nice smart guy, I read his chapter first. Bonus track was seeing Kristi Engle Gallery get a mention since John had recently shown with her.

And finally, no rest for the wicked- I start teaching a 12-week drawing class at Otis on Sunday, yes, Sunday, and there's another grant DL to put together. I am on a roll now with this paperwork thing, so I'm striking while the iron is hot.

I WILL take a break soon though. 2 days, is all I need. just 2 days laying poolside in a louge chair somehere hot with a nice room and fluffy white towels. I frigging love hotels.

I decided to leak some new images to Kris Chatterson's blog.

Kris Chatterson featured me on his blog KCLOG. Kris is painter based in New York. He is represented by Western Project here in LA. His blog is devoted to featuring other artists and what's on the walls in New York and LA.*

*As opposed to my blog, which was most recently devoted to telling you how many William Orbit tracks it takes to get from Culver City to Glendale and back.

PS. Thanks Kris!

Whateverness and Other Revelations of Revolution.

Well, I'm slowly shaking off yesterday's oddness. The cause of my discomfort was that I quite suddenly and unexpectedly got the feeling I was being fed excuses about something and that if one excuse was solved, there would be another one in its place. And for better or for worse, obviously worse, it reminded me of my marriage and how at a certain point, there was always going to be some problem that was not fixable: No use working on X, because there would always be Y. If we addressed Y, then there was X. So now that I've identified that unhealthy and slightly, albeit not entirely, irrational connection, I can pretty much dump it in the 'whatever' file and move along. Which is quite funny, because as I was thinking that, someone on FB had posted a link to this video by Liam Lynch which has made me laugh all day. Okay, maybe not ALL day, but it was a good laugh. How did this guy escape my radar?



I'm in the process of pulling some paintings from storage and placing them back in my studio. One, it's just easier to have them here for studio visits. Two, in a perfect world, I could give up my storage space, but three, sadly we still have stuff in a larger storage space and among some of my worldly possessions that I cart from city to city, is an antique Jenny Lind spindle bed frame that belonged to a great aunt or grandmother and I have no room for it at home. It's a tad quaint and unsexy as hell, though it's a four-poster bed, which gives it some sex appeal, I suppose. It would make a nice guest bed. Problem is, I don't have a Victorian era guest room. Or do I? hmmm. [Lightbulb]

Okay, suddenly, it just occurred to me that I could rent out the spare bedroom as a guest room type bed and breakfast thing to maybe other art people types. I'm in Culver City, walking or at least bicycling distance to downtown CC. It's centrally located on the west side. Several restaurants are one block away and the YMCA is one block away. I'm going to seriously look into the legalities of this.

Other news. A smaller, not smallest painting did sell. That's good news. And as soon as I log off, I'm going to begin a day job project, except that it's almost night. I just need to get started.

8 days worth of things.

I don’t consider myself a compulsive blogger, but on the other hand, it’s like checking the mail, it’s just something I feel obligated to do every day even when I know for a fact that Thursday is junk mail day. That said, I refrain from telling you how often I brush my teeth, or how there were maggots in my kitchen compost bin. I try; TRY to keep it roughly centered on art and the next concentric circle or two out from that, but sometimes I wonder how many posts about picking up a paintbrush and gushing about how much I love my new work people care to read about.

Today:
Today is the next to last day of the intensive drawing session. Their final project is a modern day vanitas or self-portrait using meaningful objects. The students that did their research felt that vanitas were really depressing. I felt it rather depressing that for 90% of my class, iPods were meaningful. Actually the depressing part was that technology is so cold and yet they were trying to represent their love of music or family by using technological things. (Note: STBX had my 2nd gen iPod etched with a few lines of our marriage vows, so I’m able to comprehend a connection between sentimentality and technology, lest you think I’m a some kind of Luddite.)

Yesterday:
I called my mom (affectionately referred to as Maryadd Sr.) to wish her a Happy Birthday. 86 years on this planet. She'd kill me if she knew I publicized that.

Showed up a couple hours early to begin grading portfolios before class. Forgot to bring sweater. The tuner or amp is finally shot to hell- every station was static. I played Stan Getz, Boards of Canada and Calexico on my laptop. Came home, made pasta with sundried tomatoes. No movies at home, too tired to read, decided to turn on TV. Can’t believe I’m going to say this in public, I stared at The Bachelorette. I spent most of the time noticing the guy’s shoes. Thank God she picked the guy who wore black shoes. The guy who wore white shoes would have cheated on her. I’m certain. Note to the pointy brown shoe guy- sorry, dude, but nice abs do not make up for pointy brown shoes. I felt they milked the sunset filter just a bit much and I couldn’t believe the dialogue for the entire show was various renditions of, “I have to make a decision. I really love him/her. I think I’ve made the right decision. This is so hard.” Went to bed early. Decided that a television set could replace a skull in a vanitas still life.

Monday.
Went in early for office hours. Being the last week of school, I'm slightly concerned about job/teaching situation and the bigger picture of job searching and where to focus my energy for freelance or perma-part-time work. Saw message on cell phone from Kristi and heard that I may have sold a painting. Felt somewhat better. Had dinner with a friend at my new favorite and way too convenient dining spot, Green Peas. Stayed up late.

Sunday:
Attended opening of group show at The Attic, a new space in the attic of an artist, Cherie Benner Davis' home. I knew several people in the show. Nice show. For some reason, several people kept assuming I was in the show. It was nice to run into people I knew. Since I don't get out much, I'm always amazed that when I do go out, I usually run into people I know. Maybe there's a mathematical theory for this phenomena. Lovely digs and studio space filled with natrual light. I’m wondering what effect working in natural light would have on my work.

Saturday, Friday, Thursday and Wednesday: Bunch of paper, office work. Sometime in here, I had my motorcycle seat reupholstered and stopped by Kinkead Contemporary to have a portrait taken of the motorcycle and me by Heather Cantrell. I'm going to order a small one for my mom for her birthday. It's what every mother needs- a art-house portrait of their daughter posed on a motorcycle. The small ones are an edition of 10 and are priced at $100.*
* I think this is what the small photographs are going for. I can't get over there to purchase until the weekend, so not 100% positive yet.

I painted during this time, but like I said, I'm feeling a little self-conscious about droning on about the act of painting right now. Maybe later.

Art and artists and the people who love them.

My studio compound

Small works really don't photograph well from a distance, do they?
I wisely decided to open the garage door.
Me doing my usual introspective mental space out thing before I talk about the work. I've had this same expression since I was two years old. I zone out quite easily.

Lunch with Robbie Conal and some of my lovely hosts and hostesses. He doesn't live too far from me. I thought he was nice. He might do a studio visit with me.
This one remind me of Renoir's, "Boat Party Luncheon."

Charles Arnoldi's studio

Tony Berlant's studio

Part of my joy yesterday was reconnecting with that sense of comfort that comes through continuity and passion.

Um wow. Like today was stellar.

I had a fantastic studio visit with The Fellows of Contemporary Art today. I thought it was fantastic, but it's hard to judge how 25 people respond to your work. I only had 15 minutes to talk, but I was caffeinated and happy, so I think it went very well. They invited me for lunch- yum, and afterward I was invited to attend the other artist's studios.

My day was a total treat. So not only did I get to present my work, I had a chance to spend the afternoon listening and talking with people who are seriously passionate about art. As an added bonus, I had a chance to meet the other artists and visit a couple of their studios. I was a tad star-struck, and I'm really quite embarrassed by just how much, when I found out the other artists on the tour were Robbie Conal, Ed Moses, Charles Arnoldi, Stas Orlovski and Tony Berlant. I had a chance to meet Robbie, Charles and Tony. The day could not have been more perfect.

It was, though. I sold a work, and the good vibes reached all the way out to Highland Park, cause in a parallel universe, Kristi had someone inquire about a work as well.

After that, I went to check out the most excellent portrait show by Heather Cantrell at Kinkead Contemporary and signed up for a shoot either this Wednesday or next. Talked to some other folks I hadn't seen in awhile, confirmed the group show with Kinkead in July and decided to call it a night.

Today was definitely one of THE most inspiring days. I took pictures on the fly, but will post after I get them uploaded. I have to go to bed now though, so tomorrow.

Art Art Art Art Art Art Art Art

I met up with a friend at Bergamot Station today. One- kudos to the cappuccino maker at the cafe, it was fabulous. Two- saw some really good shows. I'm listening to the interview as I write this, so I haven't heard the whole show, but here's the Ed Moses interview. That's what prompted my friend to want to see his current show at Greenfield Sacks Gallery and Frank Lloyd Gallery. Lucky us, he was there. It's always cool to see him in the flesh and the paintings are S A T U R A T E D. Oh my gosh, the interview is starting off fabulous. Check it out.

Paintings by Philip Argent and totally glommed together cast junk by Christian Cummings at Shoshana Wayne. $500 for the tiny glommed together fucked up sculptures by Christian Cummings. I wanted one. I still want one. I like the eraser with tin foil, for some odd reason.

The Ed Moses interview is going great.

Saw the group show at Richard Heller. My faves were Mars Mario Martinez, Oliver Vernon and Britton Tolliver. I was also intrigued by G Bradley Rhodes' Darger-esque works.

Barkley L. Hendricks, Birth of Cool rocks, as does Jeni Spoto, Don't Tread on Me, at Santa Monica Museum of Art.

I smiled a lot today.

Still listening to the Ed Moses interview, so I'm going to sign off now.

It's a see-saw, but I am optimistic again.

Spring semester grades in √
Summer syllabus completed, almost √
New paintings, signed and titled, almost √
Divorce paperwork completed, almost √

Another painter came over for a studio visit today. Next week I shall go visit her studio. It's definitely good, nay necessary, for me to get out and meet up with other artists right now. I'm been a hermit lately, even more so than usual. Bobbie makes the 4th person I've shown the new work to. So far, 4 out of 4 people are digging them. I should let my guests speak more, but I get so excited about the new works that I have to tell the backstory about how I arrived at them and then tell another backstory for why etc. For the time being, it's been good practice to talk about the work. The BIG studio visit is a week from Saturday. I'll be entertaining 25 collectors for approximately 30 minutes. My major concern is that my front lawn is dead and the back yard is barely holding on. The place needs some landscape love. I'll grab some cheap plants at Home Depot to brighten up the place. I'm self-conscious about these things. I should also finish titling the pieces and nail my spiel. Possibly a tad more important, yes?

But back to today's studio visit. I came away feeling hopeful and optimistic. In addition to talking specifically about the work, we also chatted about the business side of things and the day job side of things. If you recall, I've been laid off after the summer. I said I was brainstorming and basically cobbling an income together and instead of receiving the awkward stare of pity I usually get when I say that, I got a positive reaction and an excellent idea for proposing some workshops I could teach. I'm so on it. I also got some other business advice regarding the paintings, and I made a pledge to myself and to my visitor that I will take that advice as well. I've had some really sorry-ass advice thrown my way over the years, so sometimes I'm skeptical, but not anymore. Majority rues.

I'm also going to experiment with having an Open Studio on Saturdays this summer. My community coffee break never really took off, so we'll try this. I don't advertise and my marketing strategies are zilch. That might be one of my problems. The other might be the self-effacing humor I tend to use.

I'm one block away from a small business district on the west side Culver City, as opposed to the east side which is where all the galleries are, and have decided to take advantage of people who park on my block while shopping at Allied Train Store and Samy's camera. But, the real motivation for opening the studio one day a week was that when we bought the house several years ago, I found a blank, homemade and weathered wooden sign cast aside in the garage. Seriously, I'm like that; a sign needs a purpose. I almost used it as it, but since I'm not selling jam, potholders or rabbits, just yet, I gessoed it and will be painting a more appropriate signage denoting an open studio. The open studio will be a mix of things- mainly an opportunity to sell some older work and drawings, but possibly a chance to work on the craft side of things and see what happens there. I got into wood burning aka pyrography back in the early 90's and a few years ago I picked up leather tooling. When I said "open," I mean open. I'm still in the brainstorming phase, but am hoping to stage the first one this Saturday. Another potential cog in my cobbled empire.

I had a great day exchanging studio visits

Right-O. It's a status update, cleverly disguised as a blog title. 

Weekend round-up

Big weekend. After a six-hour drawing class that kicked my ass— I lecture a lot during the second class, plus explaining sighting skills is an arduous task at times— I trucked out to Kristi Engle to see Suzanne Adelman's painterly photographs.

I also pruned my lemon tree this week. OMG, that seriously wiped me out. I thought my hands were goners and I'd wake up the next day with 100-year old hands. It didn't help when I expressed my fatigue to an artist friend who said, "We have a gardener do the pruning." That's nice. I felt like a poor farm hand, only I have no farm- just a painting studio with one lemon tree on the property. And sorry, but yes, every time I pick lemons I think, "When life gives you lemons..." But nope, I haven't made lemonade yet, though I think I will this evening. 

I started 3 paintings on Friday and feel really great about them. Maybe a mini break-through or just going to another level. I traded website studio visits with Emily Noelle Lambert a few weeks ago and really liked her work. Her work is more figurative than mine, but it got me thinking and that's a good thing every now and then. 

I'm leaving the muddy palette behind and getting back to some brights. I tried to bring in the palette knife again, but it feels so contrived when I rely on that. This thought is immediately followed by, how silly, the whole painting is contrived. I think it has to do with the fact that my paintings go through so many build-ups, tear-downs and transformations, that laying down a thick slab of paint is just too much of a commitment in the beginning.

Some upcoming shows and auctions, which I'll post more about closer to the dates. The next one sprung up rather quickly and is sometime in April. Each artist was invited to have their own apartment and could invite another artist(s) to show with them. I thought it would be fun to invite people I had not shown with and to see if any out-of- town artists I knew either in the real world or blogging world, wanted to show and sell some work. Mixed results for trying my all-inclusive curatorial stance, but all's well that ends well. I'll be showing with a woman I have shown with a couple of times before and another woman I've never met, but her husband shows at a friend of mine's gallery and I like her work too, so it should make for a good show. I'm also terribly excited waiting for my new cheap digital camera to arrive. I have the Nikon D40 for documenting work, (tripod, use the damn tripod) and this will be my little pocket camera, so I don't have to rely on my iphone for everything else. I'm being really patient. It's a Nikon that was on sale for $100 and they're having to ship it from one store to another for me to pick up.

Next Sunday I fly to Nashville to visit my mom for a few days and then back to making the donuts. 

And, as I announced earlier, I've added an abstract painting class to my schedule. If you're in the Los Angeles area and want more information, email me. The schedule is still being worked out but I'll be introducing it with a 6-hour workshop one weekend in March.

I am so procrastinating on some stuff, but it's a good year so far.

The last couple of days have been great. I've received some good new concerning some shows, which is always good for my ego, and I uploaded some images which turned out to be another subtle way to get some attention. A few strands of conversation here and there with people, and then right before bed I got an email from someone who had seen my work in a collector's house over the holidays. Unlike 99% of the artist population, I am always amazed at these things. Simple things, like someone buying my work and finding out they hung it in their home or office. As opposed to say, U.S. Storage, which seems have the largest comprehensive collection of my work.

There are lots of openings in the Metropolitan Los Angeles today. Timing is tough especially if you have to keep getting in and out of the car and dealing with traffic and parking. Matt might have to work late and if so, I may take the motorcycle if it's not be too chilly. It's a gorgeous day here in beautiful Culver City.

Along with a veritable slew of other openings...

Kristi Engle Gallery is having an opening with Ted Apel in Highland Park.

Lisa Adams at Lawrence Ascher Gallery on the Miracle Mile

Lester Monzon at Kinkead Contemporary in Culver City

Elana Kundell is in a group show at The Loft at Liz's near the Miracle Mile

That list is pushing my limit of how many shows I can see in one night. I'm planning on seeing the work at Kristi's next week.

Oh gosh, PS. Matt cut a film for director, Jason Wulfsohn a couple of years ago that's been screening in some festivals and it's going to screen here in L.A. tomorrow night-

Tracing Cowboys
at the Downtown Independent Theater
Sunday Jan. 11, 7 pm.
251 S. Main Street
Los Angeles, CA
Cast and crew will be in attendance.

http://www.tracingcowboys.com/reviews.html

Damn, today was grueling.

Sunday. I do not work on Sundays. But because I am helping a friend out tomorrow and I had a little deadline, I hauled ass and got my Smaller Works on paper site up and running. Please check it out. It's a place to buy smaller works, primarily on paper, directly from me. Not trying to cut out the middle men and women, but I make a beaucoup of smaller works on paper and it seems most galleries like to focus on showing the larger works- as do I. The works on paper are like calisthenics for me and instead of stacking them in a flatfile for the rest of eternity, I'm proactively selling them. Also, as I've mentioned yesterday, I was inspired by other artists who are not sitting on the sidelines during this economy.

Tracy Helgeson summed it up quite succinctly-

"The economy is tough and those of us who (try to) make a living selling our work have been greatly affected. Obviously, I hope that if one has limited funds, they will pay for food, insurance, mortgage, etc. first, however perhaps there are still a few folks who can squeeze out a couple of bucks to buy a piece of art to enjoy or to give as a gift. If artists aren't selling anything, they are also not buying anything either or paying their bills or the mortgage and the dominoes will keep falling. I realize that not every art buyer wants to buy my art (what?) so I'd like to offer some alternatives and hopefully somebody will make a few sales, even if it's not me."

I was just really touched by that and I'm not really a group hug kind of person. Her project is The Fine Arts Department.